


punch

by DimCandleLight



Series: Forever and More [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Mentions of Blood, Minor Character(s), Multi, Polyamory, Renjun Doesn’t Fear Anything™
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26496211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DimCandleLight/pseuds/DimCandleLight
Summary: This time, a punch is thrown... and at least a person is untouchable.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: Forever and More [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926232
Kudos: 99





	punch

Renjun accepts the koala hug from Jeno, leaning against his broad chest while Yerim recounts all about her experience at Taeyeon's fan meet. Lucky her, honestly. Renjun is envious.

She's just at the best part when loud footsteps thud outside the classroom. 

The door flies open. Yangyang bursts in, his face red from extortion. 

"Jeno, Renjun!" he doubles over by Yerim's seat and pants for oxygen. 

Frowning, Yerim lifts her chin from where it's resting on her palm. "What's wrong, Yangyang?"

"Donghyuck—" cutting himself to heave in a deep breath, Yangyang gestures towards the vague direction of the way he comes from.

"Hyuck...?" Renjun repeats and grips Jeno's hand. He sweeps a glance over his phone lock screen. There is no new message or any missed call from the choir club member. If he remembers correctly, Donghyuck's meeting is supposed to end half an hour ago. Usually, he would've reached the language faculty by now to wait for the end of Jeno and Renjun's English class. 

Yangyang straightens up. "Yes, Hyuck." He gestures again in a vague direction out. "I was walking by when I saw him facing off these bulky men, twice his size. There are about three of them, all tattooed."

"W _hat?_ "

"I don't know what it's all about, but a crowd has started to gather around them. They're just talking, but it's tense and looks dangerous!"

Seeing red, Renjun springs up from his seat. He drags Jeno up along with him. Upon second thought, he grabs Yangyang's wrist. "Come on, show us where he is!"

From afar, they could already see a huge throng of students behind the faculty building, some busy whispering between them. Some others are secretly holding out their smartphones and pointing them towards the centre of everyone's attention in the middle of a circle. 

Renjun seethes. Stalking towards the nearest guy with red pants and a Samsung Galaxy Fold raised higher than head level, he taps the guy's shoulder. 

The guy stops tiptoeing and looks at him questioningly. 

"Please stop that," Renjun grits out. "That's my boyfriend you're putting on record."

Meekly apologising, the guy pockets his phone and nudges his friends. He repeats what Renjun's said to them while Renjun barges his way through the crowd. 

When he bumps into someone's shoulder, Renjun only has half a heart to excuse himself. 

With a sheepish smile, Jeno apologises to the bewildered student before hurrying after his boyfriend.

"Donghyuck," Renjun calls out once he reaches the frontline. 

The man with the burliest build among the three pauses mid-whisper and faces Renjun first.

"What are you guys doing?" Renjun asks. He tries to _calm down_ , repeating the words like a mantra in his head. Behind him, Jeno takes his hand and squeezes it lightly. 

At the question, Donghyuck lifts his head and turns around. The first thing which he notices is the size of crowds gathering around them, gasping at the sheer number of presence. The second is, well, Renjun. It's difficult not to take note of a person, no matter how relatively tiny they are, when smokes are fuming out of their ears.

The first guy snickers and scratches his own chin, flexing a swirl of deep black tattoos up his muscled arm. His nails are polished, just like the leather shoes on his feet. Renjun hates him already. 

"Pretty little thing, what is this?" The guy hums with a mocking glance over Donghyuck. "Are you secretly famous or something?"

Donghyuck's jaw tightens. 

Behind Renjun, Jeno draws in a sharp breath. His grip on Renjun's hand is on the verge of cutting off the blood flow, but whether he's scared of a physical fight happening, or restraining himself from a face-off is beyond anyone.

The first guy's eyes wander up and down Renjun, who is shooting glares at him and his two lackeys. 

"Oh, but your friend is pretty too, Duckie. Maybe if I get both of you for today's lunch, we can forget about that _report_?"

See, the thing is, Renjun's always known he looks good. He flaunts his features, puts together his outfits to match the trend with his taste and preferences, and uses _aegyo_ to make his boyfriends bend to his will. He finds no problem with compliments directed at him, but definitely one with _this_ guy's tone talking about D _onghyuck_ and him _._

When Jeno realises what's happening, he tries to hold Renjun back but some people are just faster when they are furious. The collective gasps around them then are led by Donghyuck, who gets a front seat view when Renjun's fist meets the guy's nose with a resounding crack.

"Talk to my boyfriend like that again and your _mouth_ is next," Renjun hisses. 

Groaning in pain, the guy touches his nose and lowers himself onto his haunches. When he pulls his hand away, it's painted red with splatters of his blood.

" _Bitch._ " He wipes his palm on a handkerchief that one of the other guys hands over to him in a haste. "A feisty one, aren't you?"

The tips of Renjun's nails dig uncomfortably into the centre of his palm while he stares down with unwavering eyes. "Watch what you're saying," he spits out, disgust dripping from his voice.

The guy snickers. "Landed a punch because you caught me off guard and suddenly you think you're stronger than me? Boys." He points at Renjun with his blood-stained chin, red still dripping down from his nose. 

With a synchronised nod, his lackeys leave Donghyuck's side and drag their feet to corner Renjun. 

"You think outnumbering a dude means _you_ are strong?" Renjun snorts. "Screams **trash** to me."

Loud hushed whispers spread around the crowd like wildfire. 

From the corners of his eyes, Renjun catches Jeno fumbling with his hands deep in his pocket. Jeno's eyes are blown wide as he glances from the faint glow in his pocket to Renjun in alternate turns. If any of these jerks see him and get suspicious… he can't endanger any of his boyfriends.

The supposedly 'boss' of the group stands up and shoves his bloodied handkerchief into his back pocket. "Trash?" he repeats with a snicker.

"What did you call me, shortie?"

The audacity that this guy has... to make an attack to his _height_. Renjun bristles but doesn't throw the second punch yet. Silently, he calculates his chances and opportunities. With the three guys focused on him from all sides, his best bet is to run into the crowd behind him. This might, however, bring attention towards the other students and potentially, Jeno. Behind the boss, Donghyuck is shaking his head like a madman and mouthing at Renjun to ' _stop adding fuel to the fire!'_

Pouring fuel to the fire? Donghyuck has two boyfriends with fire signs. What does _he_ expect?

Renjun smirks. 

"I, for one, have an average height, you _trash,_ _useless, ugly **coward**._" Renjun bares his teeth snidely. 

Donghyuck's jaw falls slack while his eyes grow bigger than the hideous golden dots on the boss' black shirt. Somewhere behind Renjun, someone slaps their forehead.

The boss' face flushes in fury. He swings a heavy hand forward, which Renjun ducks from easily. H _eh. W_ ho says having an _average_ height is bad? He can fight people bigger than him just fine. The boss' nostrils flare as he breathes heavily.

"Boys, hold this bastard while I show him his place," he orders.

Before his lackeys can move, Renjun senses someone moving closer behind him. 

"If you dare to touch any of my boyfriends, you wouldn't make it out of here alive," a familiar voice says.

Donghyuck gasps behind the boss, his eyes fixed in a trance on the person who is standing just a step forward from Jeno, right behind Renjun.

Renjun stiffens but doesn't turn his back, guard still up against these thugs.

The lackey by Renjun's right throws a wary glance towards the newcomer before looking at his boss for the next order.

At the front of the crowd, Jeno doesn't bother hiding the phone in his clutch this time. "Finally." he sighs and raises his phone. "I'm still calling the campus police, just in case."

The boss turns towards him with a murderous glare. "How dare you call the police on _me?_ Do you guys know who I am?"

Donghyuck rolls his eyes so hard behind the boss that it’s almost a wonder how they are still intact.

"Oh, I don't," Renjun can _hear_ it from his voice, Jaemin's lazy smirk dragging the corners of his lips upward the way it does when he knows that he's winning, "but do _you_ know who _he_ is _?_ "

Renjun tenses when Jaemin's palm rests on his shoulder. Then, his thumb starts stroking the thin fabric of his shirt. The movement is slight, almost unnoticeable unless you pay your whole attention towards his fingers. Knowing him, it's just a ploy to distract Renjun from the bomb which he's going to drop.

The boss scoffs. "Why would I care about this scrawny guy?"

Jaemin tsks. "If I were you, I would be careful with what I'm calling the last bloodline of China's imperial family, dude."

Blood rushes away from Renjun's face.

Literally everyone around them falls silent to digest what Jaemin just said. Before long, there is an uproar of whispers spreading around the crowd. Jeno and Donghyuck share a look of surprise. 

The status of someone coming from the bloodline of China's last emperor is considered the same as a conglomerate family member. There have been rumours of them studying here, but for some reason, the news of the supposedly wealthy royal brothers die down fast when it first comes.

“Look at his face!" the guy cackles. "You're just playing me.”

Jaemin joins the guy laughing, his voice deep and his laugh humourless. Renjun contemplates whether elbowing him would get him to stop the performative act. 

Some more footsteps reverberate towards the crowd, and with them comes an eerily familiar booming voice. Jaemin stops laughing. He lifts his hand to wave at the latecomers.

"Hyunmin, _hyung_ is here!" 

The last bit of sanity flies away from Renjun’s body. Oh no, not _them._ From the way by which everyone else is looking at him and the latecomers with mixed glances of mistrust and judgement, Renjun _knows_ that this would be the end of him.

“Hey, you, the guy with a leopard print jacket!” One of the three people just arriving at the back of the crowd calls out. He’s looking at the friend of the guy Renjun has told off just now, who becomes flustered with the attention as everyone turns to look at him, lowering his hand where his phone is in a tight clutch. 

“You recorded everything from the moment this bastard called my little bro names, don’t you?”

The poor guy with the eye-catching outfit scrambles for words. “Yes...yeah. Sorry, Lucas, I’ll delete it now!” 

“Wait— not yet!" Lucas, a student famous in their campus for having covered magazine modelling gigs, shakes his head. 

"Give it to me, that's important evidence. The rest of you, give your recordings to me too if you have it. Send them to my formal email address.” He glances sideways to where his twin, Hendery (well-known for being an underground dancer, part-time model and full-time student) is standing by his side, face devoid of the playfulness he's known for. “Or to Kunhang, if you want.”

Hyunmin nods in agreement, looking all intimidating beside Lucas with their height put together, a total opposite to his usual personality. He's the most soft-spoken person anyone in their circle of friends has ever met.

Donghyuck pales. For a moment, Renjun forgets that he's in big trouble and worries about his boyfriend. He tries to catch his eyes— until the crowd parts to make way for Lucas, Hendery and Hyunmin.

When they are standing right beside him, Lucas slings an arm over his neck. "Hey, Little Huang." He grins.

Before Hendery can repeat the nickname, a shit-eating grin on his face, Renjun slaps a palm over his half-opened mouth. 

"Don't," he pleads.

Jaemin chuckles under his breath. Renjun throws him a stink eye. He's going to commit murder tonight and his target would be one of his boyfriends. 

_The traitor_.

***

The room is silent. Renjun hugs himself and wonders if he can make himself smaller. Sometimes, it's great if you're _not_ the average size. Easier to hide and run from embarrassing situations, for one. Both Donghyuck and Jeno are seated on Jaemin's bed again and avoiding his eyes _again_.

"This is all your fault," he mutters to Jaemin. 

Jaemin stops swinging his feet. He lands them both on the floor with a thud and faces Renjun, armed with a pout. "Jaeminnie is sorry," he says.

Renjun cringes. He steals a glance at the closed door, as if Lucas and Hendery would barge into their bedroom whenever and not getting distracted instead with the food in the fridge or the speaker with a cutting-off technology in the lounge.

"Why do you even get my brothers involved?" he mumbles.

Tsks. Jaemin coaxes his downcasted eyes to look up with a finger on his chin. They get lost in each other's eyes for a moment until Jaemin breaks it by lifting Renjun's right hand gently to their eye-level.

"You're hurt, Injun-ah."

Both Jeno and Donghyuck almost snap their necks to look at Renjun's hand. True to Jaemin's words, his knuckles are red and bruised. 

When Renjun finally pays attention to the sting on his hand, he winces. _That_ must be what causes the phantom trace of pain. He's thought that it is just an aftermath of punching someone.

"Injunnie," Donghyuck crosses over the room and sits beside him, "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

Scrunching up his nose, Renjun nudges him. "Hey, you're threatened by three guys each a size bigger than us four combined. How can I pass up on a chance to be your hero?"

Some of the stubborn fighting spirit left dissipates from Donghyuck's body, apparent from the way his shoulders sag forward. He pulls Renjun towards him for support. "Thank you," he says.

Renjun grins. "Now, _that's_ what I like to hear. You're welcome." He meets Jeno's eyes over the tuft of Donghyuck's hair and remembers. "You know, we're still waiting for the story of how you got involved with those _thugs_."

Donghyuck stiffens for a second.

"They're no one important," he brushes it off and tightens his hold around Renjun.

"Hyuck." Jaemin moves to his side and pats his back. Donghyuck tries not to melt into the warm touch today. "You're more than capable of taking care of yourself, but let us worry about you sometimes, yeah?"

Jeno, who has been silent this whole time, voices out his thoughts; "Are they the reason why you've to redo your final?" His voice comes about low while his eyes are decidedly fixed on Donghyuck's face. 

Renjun and Jaemin exchange curious looks between them.

It's almost instant then, Donghyuck averting his eyes and inching away from both Jaemin and Renjun at the same time. Not that he has much space left to scoot away on the bed, with two of his boyfriends flanking his both sides.

"Yeah," he exhales in resignation, "I reported their attempt to cheat in midterm to the head of the faculty."

Frowning, Jaemin reaches out to drape himself over Donghyuck for grounding— for comfort— as an offering in the form of reassurance which he's used to, only to stop halfway when Jeno shakes his head slightly at him.

Donghyuck smiles faintly at them. "It's strange, how brave of me to do it, that day. Their…" he trails away and purses his lips. "the one acting like he's their leader?" 

Renjun scoffs upon the reminder of The Bastard Boss™. 

"He's the only son of Dr Yoon." 

"The famous skin specialist with a chain of clinics all over the country?" Jeno raises an eyebrow. When Donghyuck nods, he whistles. "Damn."

Upon noticing Jaemin and Renjun's blank faces, Donghyuck laughs. "Dr Yoon is an alumnus of our university and she's a public figure. Their family is filthy rich—" he halts to give them a once over— "you guys probably can relate, although I think they're not as rich as the China emperor's heirs."

Renjun huffs and sends Donghyuck colliding into Jaemin's chest with a half-hearted shove. "Honestly, stop it." He glares at them both.

Wounded, Jaemin wraps his arms around Donghyuck's waist. "Are you still mad at me for letting the cat out of the bag?" Perching his head on top of Donghyuck's shoulder, he pouts at Renjun.

A crack of a smile makes its way onto Donghyuck's face. "Silly." He taps the back of Jaemin's hand as a request to let him go before scooting closer to cling onto Renjun's side and try to squeeze his breath out of him. Having the upper hand with an element of surprise, he succeeds in landing a wet kiss on Renjun's neck. 

With a loud yelp, Renjun shoves him away.

For a second, Donghyuck obliges. He backs away and crosses his arms over his chest petulantly. From the corner of his eyes, he catches Jeno's twinkling eyes and sees his stealthy gestures towards Renjun for Jaemin to see. Their grins match while all three of them pounce on Renjun with a loud scream of ' _group hug!'_ from Jeno.

Donghyuck catches the glimpse of a small smile before Renjun hides it in Jeno's shoulder, and feels Jaemin and Jeno's hands patting his back in a familiar, comforting rhythm.

To this day, it's still an unsolved mystery for them, the combination of how far Jeno's arm can extend whenever he's going for an embrace, and how short the distance he can reach out when he's the nearest to switch on the projector on movie nights. 

Donghyuck giggles under his breath. 

"Love you guys so damn much," he mumbles into Jaemin's neck, unnecessarily shy but still loud enough for his two other boyfriends to hear him too.

If Lucas, Hendery and Hyunmin burst into the room in a sugar-induced hype while the boyfriends are busy— in the midst of something very _important_ — that's on them for not _knocking_ the door before entering. 

**Author's Note:**

> :]]]
> 
> (pardon the language) i just want to quote T, who read this first:
>
>> "YEAH MOTHERFUCKER RENJUN IS A FUCKING BADASS AND MOTHERFUCKING ROYALTY???"
> 
> and
>
>> "I LOVE IT POST IT BITCH"
> 
> so yeah, here it is. a series of ot4 nct dream 00z, in all its glorious three parts, posted.
> 
> haha luv you, T ;;;;;; <333
> 
> i enjoyed writing this, and i hope it's an enjoyable read for others too!! :D
> 
> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/shinecity) || [twitter](https://twitter.com/finlovesinjun)


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